Civic Spark Media LLC is organized in the state of Indiana as a for-profit corporation, but we aspire to operate as a public benefit corporation, where our primary business activities are centered around doing good and benefitting the community. While Indiana code allows for the formation of a public benefit corporation, we are not currently registered as one, but are considering this for the future.
This page documents some of the ways we are operating for the public benefit now, and ways we hope to in the future.
Current Practices
These are some of the things we’re already doing to make sure our business activities serve the public good and benefit the community.
- Producing publications and media that are focused on informing, inspiring and improving our community
- Publishing regular transparency reports that help us be held accountable to our goals and to the interests of the community
- Providing livable wages and an open time off policy to our employees
- Assessing community impact through regular and ongoing feedback surveys and listening sessions
- Partnering with other community organizations to build and maintain a healthy local news ecosystem
Future Goals
- Regular impact assessments, where we evaluate our community impact and benefit in writing using third-party standards
- Additional job creation
- Exploring employee ownership options
- Increasing the diversity of our staff and leadership, including percentage of management from underrepresented populations
- Monitoring and recording environmental impact
- Establishing a community giving budget and distribution plan
- Sponsoring civic engagement by our staff and other contributors